Chasing Tales

A story of twisted fairy tales, a love triangle, and girl who found an adventure to last a life time.

Chasing Tales

 

Chapter One

Emily Silverheart, a simple girl, from a simple town, with a simple life. She never had a problem that couldn’t be solved very simply by dropping the family name or exchanging the family money. You’d think her life was perfect. Perfect family, perfect grades, perfect wardrobe; everything was perfect! Even her best friends were perfect! Well mostly perfect. Each of them had one flaw, but they were basically princesses. Everyone loved her so much she was practically like a princess too. She even looked like a princess; she had long hair the color of flaxen seeds, big blue eyes, and her skin was so pale and soft too. She could wear anything and it would look amazing on her. Doesn’t that mean she should’ve felt like a princess too? But she didn’t. Her life was too simple. It was the same every day, nothing ever really changed. She didn’t want to perfect, she wanted adventure! And she found her adventures, and many adventures at that, in books. When she was little, her mother used to read her story after story, all of them fairy tales. She knew them all by heart, and could recite any line if asked. But then one day, it was like everyone had forgotten fairy tales even existed, including Emily. She had forgotten books even existed until the day she had accidently wondered into the school library when she was looking for one of her best friends. As she entered, a small voice from behind a desk greeted her.

“Hello dear, welcome to the Library.”

Emily peaked behind the desk and saw a short elderly woman. She was dressed in a sky blue dress with a short white cape and blue hat. Her feet were so small, that her little blue heals looked like a child’s. But they had a strange glittery shine to them, almost like glass, and very uncommon to the school dress code. Emily wondered how she had gotten them past the headmaster. The headmaster was a very strict man, and everyone feared him, even his own daughter, Odile.

“Um, I’m looking for my friend Aurora. She tends to fall asleep in random places and I can’t find her this time.” Emily said suddenly feeling embarrassed because of her friend. The old lady simply smiled and nodded.

“Follow me child, I believe I can help you find what you’re looking for.”

She started walking down a row of books, all the way to the very back. The section looked like it hadn’t been touched in years. There were cobwebs all over the shelves, and there were heavy layers of dust on the books. Even the sign letters for the section were missing and faded so it read:

F A _ _ Y  T A L _ S.

Emily looked puzzled at the sign, thinking that the letters looked familiar, but couldn’t figure out the missing ones.

“Ah! Here is it.” The old lady pulled out a key and unlocked an old looking door. It swung open with a creaky sound, and she waved some cobwebs out of the door way before stepping inside. She reached u and pulled some chains above them. One by one the hanging bulbs fluttered on, like some animals who had been asleep for a long time and were finally woken up. In the poor lighting, Emily saw a large glass display case sitting in the center of the room. She walked up to it and tried to peek inside, but it was so dusty she couldn’t see. She used her sleeve and wiped away some of the dust, just barely making out faint outlines of books that were resting in side. She couldn’t read their titles clearly, but they seemed vaguely familiar too. It was as if she had known these things a long time ago, but she couldn’t remember what they were. Something from her childhood maybe? The familiarly of it all gave her chills down her spine. She turned away from the case when she heard some papers being shuffled and saw the old lady going through even more dust covered papers on a large oak desk. The desk was overflowing with stacks of old papers and bound up journals and they looked like they could fall any minute.

“It has to be here somewhere…” she heard the old lady mumble to herself.

Emily looked away and saw more glass display cases, all with dusty or faded plaques. They were different shapes and sizes, like each was made for a specific item. Some were larger, like almost shipping crate size, while others were smaller, like the size of a shoe box.? But what was strangest of all, they were all empty. She looked closer at them, and saw they were all completely sealed shut, with no possible way to open. Shouldn’t there be something in these? Why have sealed glass cases if there’s nothing in there to protect? What are they afraid of being stolen? Air?

Suddenly there was a loud thump! Sound that made her jump.

“Oh dearest me! I’ve made an even bigger mess!” the old lady said and groaned as she leaned down to pick up the pile of journals and papers that had fallen. Emily quickly rushed to her aid and started picking them all up for her.

“Here let me.”

As she was gathering them up, she saw a faint glimmer of something under the desk. She looked closer but she still couldn’t see it. She reached under the desk and her hand grasped something small and cool to the touch. Was it metal? She pulled her hand back and opened her palm. It was a key. It was about the size of her palm, and looked to be made of silver. On one side, there was a crisscross pattern, like the metal had been weaved together, and the other, a glittering stone. The stone seemed to shimmer strangely in the light, almost like water in a reflecting pool. Emily looked closer, and swore she saw a tiny scene, complete with little moving people too. But they looked unhappy, like they were upset because something was missing. How strange…. It must be the trick of the light.

“Did you find something dearie?” the old lady asked smiling.

“It’s a key.” Emily said and tried to hand it back to the old lady, but she shook her head.

“Keep it. It will be more of use to you then would be for me.”

Emily looked back at the key in her palm, and she suddenly had the urge to smile. Somehow this key made her feel….different. And she liked it, a lot actually. For once in her life, she was finally different from everyone. She wasn’t so perfect anymore. She stood up and put the stack of papers and files back on the desk and noticed the initials B.G. engraved on the front. I wonder what B.G. stands for? She then heard the bell signaling that she was late for her first lesson.

“Crap! I’ve got to go! Thank you so much for the beautiful key!” She started to rush out of the room when the old lady stopped her.

“Here, please allow me to write you a pass.” She said, and pulled out a pad of paper and a long white pen that seemed to glimmer in the lighting. She wrote down everything then handed it to her, grasping her had for a brief moment.

 “Remember dearie, not everything is as it seems.”

 She then smiled and let go. Emily nodded a little confused but quickly rushed off to her class. As she left, she curiously looked at the paper to catch the old lady’s name. That’s strange….

The paper read:

Please excuse Ms.Silverheart, she was assisting me with some paperwork.

Sincerely,

Ms.F.G.

 

Chapter Two

Luckily, Emily’s teacher accepted the pass, but just barely. All of her teachers seemed to hate her and her friends because they were so perfect. To her, all the teachers seemed to be either really depressed, angry, or just have a flat out bad attitude. But overall, they all seemed jealous of her and her friends. Any time they needed a favor, or something to go their way, the teachers would do anything in their power to deny them of it. The only reason they ever got what they wanted was because of the headmaster. Everyone may have feared him, but for some reason he played favoritism to Emily and her friends. All they had to do was tell the head master what was wrong, and he would correct it. The problem was, it was always Emily who had to be the one to tell him. She believed, and she was sure they knew too, that the only reason they got favoritism was because her father and the head master were close friends. They went hunting together during the season, and were sometimes gone for whole weekends. At first her father would always object, and try to argue with the headmaster, but when they came back it seemed as if they were best pals again. Emily assumed it was just “manly stuff”, as her father had always put it.

In all honesty, Emily didn’t really like the Headmaster. He was kind of creepy to her; but not like “Ewww he’s old!” kind of creepy. If fact, the head master looked really good for his age, and a lot of girls at the school thought he was attractive. Sometimes they would even leave gifts and secret notes outside his office door. One time if got so bad, that he had to start having a guard outside his door to ward them off. However, despite all of this, he seemed to have only eyes for Emily; and that’s the part that was so creepy. He was a high-class, good looking man, but also was a faculty member at her school. How could that possibly work?  Wasn’t it against the rules for student to date staff? Emily did the best she could to not be rude, but also make it clear that she wasn’t at all interested. Besides, he wasn’t Emily’s type; even though she had no idea what her type even was. Her friends sometimes teased her about it too, thinking it would be so “romantic” and “adventurous” to break the rules by dating a staff member. She would just shake her head and say, “No thanks I’m sure I can find a different sort of adventure somewhere else.” Unfortunately for Emily, she still hadn’t found that adventure she was looking for yet.

Emily sat in her class listening to Mr. Madd go on about how to properly brew tea.

“Alrighty kids! Now we pour the Citrus �- aurantiifolia in with the bubbly brew!”

Suddenly there was a “poof” sound and a cloud of green smoke, which made Mr. Madd start coughing. The “bubble brew” in question was now this ugly vomit green color. He just grinned ear from ear seeing it. Then he picked up the flask and threw his head back and drank it all.

“Woooweee! That’s Delumpcious!”

He started laughing then suddenly let out a loud belch that stank up the whole room. After a few seconds, students started coughing and gagging. Emily’s face turned to a sour expression and she covered her nose. This always seemed to happen after one of his experiments; either it was stinky burps or fowl gas, but it always seemed to get worse every time. Some students tried lowering themselves onto the floor hoping the gas would rise up and away from their abused noses. Everyone was coughing and pleading for the pain to stop, when suddenly the bell rang. The students all rushed out the door like their very lives depended on it, and they all gasped when their lungs hit fresh air.

“Thank goodness! I thought I was going to die!” Cried Belle when she caught her breath. She brushed off her tan skirt and readjusted her canary yellow cardigan, making sure the smell didn’t linger on her clothes.

“I’d rather kiss a frog then have to deal with this every day! And that’s saying a lot.” Tiana said readjusting her glasses, which had gotten knocked sideways in the rush out the door, and then pushed down her skirt to keep it from revealing too much of her long ebony legs.

Both of them had class with Emily, and she was grateful she had friends in most of her classes; Belle and Tiana had science class, Cinderella and Aurora had sewing class, Rapunzel and Snow White had out door Ed, Ariel was in gym class, and Alice was in theatre class.

“I think Alice would enjoy that class much more than anyone of us do.” Emily said wiping her eyes, which had started to tear up from the smell. “She’s the only one who would understand Mr. Madd and his odd ways.”

Tiana and Belle nodded in agreement as they started walking towards there next classes. As they walked, Emily just happened to glace at the other students passing by. The hallways were crowded with students rushing to class, some saw her and waved, while others just kept walking without a second glance. To Emily, school was very odd, but at the same time very familiar, like home. The other students were just as odd as the school most days.

There were the Hog triplets, for example, whose last names really were “Hog”. Even though they were small in size, they were still the Star track athletes of the school. They could run circles around anyone, with little to no effort at all; but they were also bullies. They bullied one person in particular; B.B Wolf. B.B wolf, or just “B.B” as everyone called him, was a very tall, lanky guy who mainly dressed in all black and avoided every one. The Hog triplets liked to pick on him because they had figured out that he had a dream of being a star track athlete too. The problem was, he couldn’t be on the track team, or do any sport for that matter, because he had severe asthma. He had to always carry an inhaler incase in suddenly flared up. It would always flare up, especially when he was under stress or immense pressure. Most of the time, the main cause of it was because of the Hog triplets.

In fact, they practically made it a daily ritual to harass him as much as they could; and today was no different.

“Hey, wheezy! Where do you think you’re going?” they called after him from across the hall.

All three quickly caught up to him and grabbed him. Even though B.B was taller than them, they still somehow managed to slam him against the lockers. B.B let out a wheezy gasp and his eyes were wide with fear.

“P-please guys, n-not today,” B.B said with a faint voice, like he was struggling to breath. “Please j-just leave me a-alone.”

All three of them laughed and then slammed him again.

“Don’t think we didn’t see you watching us.” Said Tucker, glaring at him through the bangs that covered his eyes.

“Yeah, what are you gay?” Sam teased and jabbed him in the chest with his finger.

“If you think you will ever be as good as us, you’re wrong.” Kevin sneered and flipped his pointed hair back dramatically, showing off his good looks. “Stay away from our track course or you’re going to regret it!”

All three slammed him one more time, “For good measure”, as they put it, and stalked off. B.B quickly pulled out his inhaler and took some deep breaths.

Emily saw this and frowned. She didn’t like that the Hog triplets bullied B.B, but she didn’t think there was anything she could do to help. She tried telling the teachers, but they just brushed it off saying, “He’s fine. It will help him build character”. The only other person who actually cared about B.B was a girl called “Little Red”. She was no more than 4”10, with big hazel eyes and shoulder length dirty blond curls. She always wore a frilly dress, little white stockings with brown dress shoes, and her signature red hood. She had always wanted to help; In fact, she actually had a crush on him. Emily could always tell because she would follow him around secretly to make sure he was ok. Sometimes, she would even find a way to leave treats in his locker to try and make him feel better. Little Red was always willing to do anything for him, but she was always too afraid to talk to him. Emily had once tried asking her about it, but she claimed he was too “intimidating”, and she was just too shy.

Emily saw her once again today, hiding around the corner, watching what was happening. Emily approached her and tapped her shoulder gently. She suddenly jumped startled, and swiveled around quickly to see who it was.

“Oh, it’s you! Thank goodness” she said letting out a sigh of relief, and held a hand to her rapidly beating heart. Her face looked kind of pale, and she had bags under her eyes too.

“Hey Red, is everything ok? You look exhausted. It’s not your grandma again is it?” Emily asked concerned. Little Red’s grandma had been sick for as long as Emily could remember. The doctors didn’t even know what was wrong with her anymore.

“No. I mean, well….not exactly. The doctors keep telling us that she just has a bad cold, and because of her age, that it can affect her differently than younger people. I’m starting to think that the doctors really have no idea what’s wrong with her, but I know she can make it! My grandma is strong and I don’t think she will…..she will…” She stopped talking suddenly and just looked like she was in a daze. To Emily it looked as if she was a zombie.

Emily snapped her fingers, trying to get her attention again. Little Red suddenly shook her head and blinked her eyes. She looked back at Emily with a blank expression on her face before she started having a coughing fit. Emily suddenly seemed even more concerned now.

“Hey, you’re not getting sick too are you? Let’s go see Ms. Goose.” Emily said and quickly helped Little Red to Ms. Goose’s office.

Ms. Goose was both the school guidance counselor and the nurse. Basically while you laid down, she would talk to you about any problems or stressors you were having, either at home or school. She had a desk and file cabinets on one side of the room, and a row of infirmary beds on the other. Normally it was empty, but a few of the beds already had people in them. Emily knew this because anytime someone was in a bed, the curtain would be closed around the bed, obscuring anyone’s view and keeping the privacy of the person. Ms. Goose was a short, middle aged lady with platinum blonde hair that she always kept in a long braid down her back. She wore a long white vintage dress with a thin ruffled petticoat underneath, and a doctor’s coat over it all. She even had glasses that sat half way between the tip of her nose and the bridge of her nose.

She saw them both enter and stood up immediately. She quickly came to Little Red’s side, her white short heeled shoes clicking on the tile floor.

“What’s wrong dear? Are you not feeling well?” She asked Little Red.

When she didn’t answer, Emily spoke up for her.

“I was talking to her and then she suddenly just went into a zombie like trance. Her grandmas’ been really sick, so she’s been doing all she can to help. I think she may have done a little too much and made herself sick as well.”

Little Red confirmed this with a sudden coughing fit.

Ms. Goose shook her head and sat Little Red on a bed and got out a small light wand and shined it in her eyes. She seemed to be checking for something. She tried a few more things, but they didn’t seem to bring any results as far as Emily could tell. Ms. Goose looked very worried, her fore head wrinkling harshly. She only did that when something was really, really serious. She then saw Emily’s worried expression as well and just smiled faintly.

“It’s alright dear, she just needs some rest is all. Like you said she’s been working too hard.” She said in a calming voice.

“Ms. Goose, do you think it would be ok if-“

Emily was suddenly interrupted by the shrill sound of the desk phone ringing. She waved at Emily, shooing her out the door.

 “You can come check on your friend later, dear. Right now she needs her rest.”

Emily reluctantly stepped out of the office and the door was shut right behind her. She was far too curious for her own good, and now that the hallway was empty, she knew she would be able to hear through the door. She leaned her ear against it and listened carefully.

“N-no, sir, I don’t believe this is a normal circumstance either…..No, sir, I didn’t leave any clues at all….No one should have any idea what’s going on…..Emily, sir? Yes, she was the one who brought her in….but sir, I don’t think she…yes sir, I understand…. Yes sir, bye.”

Emily was very confused now; she couldn’t believe her ears. What is going on? Clues? Did Ms. Goose do something bad? And who was she talking to? What did that person say about me? She suddenly heard footsteps coming down the hall and quickly darted to the girl’s bathroom. She locked herself in a stall and leaned against the door. Her mind was racing almost as fast as her heart. Something fishy was going on, and she was going to find out what.

Author's Note

This is the first two chapters and I'm hoping I can get your feed back on it so I can figure out what to write next and how to improve it.
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